


Me and My Shinigami

by Kaigoryu



Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, basically i just really like minoru and theres not enough fics about him, eventually, ghost light, kind of shinigami light?, minoru slowly drives light insane and he cant do a damn thing, ryuk is his same old self, umumummum
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:48:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28188723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaigoryu/pseuds/Kaigoryu
Summary: After Minoru dies he's transported back to 2006, where he takes over the life that was supposed to belong to Light Yagami.Minoru wants nothing to do with the notebook that killed him in his previous life, but shinigami!Light has other plans.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35





	1. How Did We Get Here?

**A/N: listen,,, I haven’t read the one shot since it came out and I haven’t watched death note in idk how long. Sorry if there’s inconsistencies!**

**2020**

As soon as his hand touched the fresh bills dropping from the ATM, Minoru knew he was fucked.

He was strangely calm as he fell to the ground, everything moving too fast and too slow all at once. His eyes raised to the gray sky above, the beginnings of snowflakes forming in his sight.

He loses conciousness as he fights to keep his eyes open, and his last thoughts are of the pain pulsing in his chest.

**2006**

Minoru’s eyes snapped open and his whole body jolted, slamming his knees into the hard surface directly above them.

His widened eyes scanned his surroundings, heatbeat faster than it’d been even as he’d died. He was in a normal Japanese classroom, filled with students sporting dated haircuts and confused expressions.

Many of their heads were turned towards Minoru, looks questioning the sudden thud of his knees to the desk.

“Minoru?” The professor asked from the front. “Perhaps you can translate the passage to English?”

“Um…”

Minoru looked helplessly at the open book in front of him. Had he put that there? The notebook beside it had his messy handwriting on the page, but he had no memory of writing it, nor of learning its contents.

“Um… Petals fall… Spring is soon…” He trails off, fighting an embarrassed flush. He makes eye contact with his professor, silently begging for mercy. And thank God, he was feeling generous.

“Thank you, Minoru, that was a good start. Can anyone else help finish the translation?”

Minoru closed his eyes, breathing a quiet sigh of relief. When he opens them again he sets about to figure what the hell is going on.

A movement from the window beside him catches his attention, and suddenly Minoru can’t breathe. A notebook, undeniably, just _fell from the sky._

Minoru debated going to fetch it, class be damned. If he couldn’t remember getting here he shouldn’t have to stay. But it occured to him that another student might glance out the window and see, and his gut told him that would be dangerous. So he waited.

In the time he sat idely he wondered about the strong pull he felt to the fallen object. It was an ordinary black notebook, but somehow he just knew it was meant for him.

Desperately looking for something to do, Minoru discreetly picks through the bag at his feet, hoping to find a clue as to why he couldn’t remember his classmates or even what class this was.

The contents were completely normal: textbooks, papers, a smashed bag of barbeque potato chips.

His heart dropped when his hand brushed against some money. But when he didn’t drop dead for a second time that day, Minoru let out the sharp breath he’d been holding.

No clues to his situation, but apparently he was a slightly better student than he remembered, and went to a different school now.

 _How old am I now? How much time am I missing?_ Minoru thought, worry growing. At least this still appeared to be high school.

The second the bell rings he’s gone, only grabbing “his” backpack and book to avoid suspicion.

Getting out of the building was more difficult than Minoru expected, since he’d never been inside it before and didn’t know the layout. Once he finally escapes and skirts around the building he sees his prize sitting in the fresh spring grass.

But the second his hand touched its weathered spine, Minoru knows he made a mistake. Memories come flooding back, of a certain gothic shinigami and a perfect plan that must have been spoiled without his knowledge, leading to his death.

“Oh my God,” Minoru breathed, his legs shaking. “Ryuk? Are you there?”

Stashing the Death Note under his shirt, Minoru jogs around campus trying to spot the tall, lanky figure wherever he could. He gives up after he circles the building for a second time, flopping down on a bench and checking the time.

3:30. Does that mean school is over? He didn’t see a schedule in his backpack, and if he has another class Minoru doesn’t know what it is.

“Hey! Yagami!”

Minoru looks towards the approaching student but doesn’t know why; Yagami’s not his name, after all. But the boy was definitely talking to him.

“Uh… yes?”

Minoru half expects the guy to respond, “No, not you!” But instead he claps Minoru’s shoulder and smiles brightly.

“I thought we were meeting at the fountain to walk home together,” the boy says, a questioning lilt to his tone. Minoru is suddenly very aware of the Death Note still tucked in his waistband.

“I was tired of waiting,” Minoru replied shortly. “Sorry,” he adds.

“Hey, that’s okay. I guess I did stop to talk for a bit. Let’s head out!”

Minoru silently followed the boy’s lead, musing to himself.

It’s a short walk, Minoru finds, and the boy keeps himself occupied, brainlessly talking about video games Minoru had only vaguely heard of.

“Did you ever get a GameBoy, Minoru?” he asks suddenly, catching Minoru off-guard.

“Uh… yeah, I had one, but not… anymore.”

“That sucks dude. Did your parents confiscate it? Man, that’s the worst.”

He continues on about Pokemon Ruby and other ancient games, leaving Minoru to theorize.

 _GameBoy hasn’t been a thing since I was a kid_ , he thought, an idea forming in his head.

“Hey!” Minoru cringed. He still didn’t know this guy’s name. “Can we stop in here for a sec?”

“Yeah, sure! I am kinda hungry.”

They duck into a small convenience store, the boy making a beeline straight to the snack foods. Minoru waited until he was occupied before picking up a newspaper from the stack out front.

“Oh, _fuck_.”

April 7th, 2006. Two-thousand fucking six. He was supposed to be four years old! How was he in high school, much less a high school he didn’t remember?

Minoru dropped the paper and re-joined his friend with a grim expression. The rest of the trip home is quiet, the guy taking a hint that he didn’t want to bother him right now.

After a gruelling five minutes that felt more like thirty, he finally piped up.

“Uh… isn’t that your house?”

Minoru stopped in his tracks, whirling towards the quaint home to their left. It was definitely not the house he remembered, but if time travel was possible house-swapping was too.

“Yeah, sorry. Zoned out.”

Minoru waved goodbye to the friend before scaling the white steps and placing a careful hand on the doorknob. The door creaked as it opened, revealing a modestly-decorated living room in differing beige tones.

“Minoru?” A feminine voice calls from the room over, and Minoru fights the impulse to about-face and get the hell out.

Instead he follows the voice, peeking into a small kicthen area.

“How was school, dear?” A friendly, motherly-looking woman asks.

“Fine… Kind of boring,” Minoru responds as safely as he can.

“Hm. Well, if you keep your grades up, I suppose you can afford to be bored sometimes,” she says, turning back to her cooking.

Minoru takes his time walking around the house, familiarizing himself with the layout. Down a hallway he spots a family portrait, unsettlingly involving him, even though he had no memory of it.

Apparently he had two parents and an adorable little sister, probably names Sayu going off the name on one of the closed doors.

Taking a guess, Minoru opened the other door at the end of the hall. This must be his room, he thought, taking in the dated but youthful decor.

 _Guess I’m messy no matter what timeline,_ Minoru thought, stepping over clothes on the floor and over towards his desk.

“Oh, wow, a relic…”

He hadn’t seen a computer this old since middle school, its cream-colored display the size of a small TV.

“Light takes offense to that, you know.”

Minoru nearly jumps out of his skin, stifling a scream.


	2. Not Exactly Eye-To-Eye

Minoru whipped around to look at the creature speaking, both recognizing and fearing what he knew he would see.

“Hey, don’t go having a heart attack on us now, hyuk hyuk.”

“Hilarious,” a dry voice replied, drawing Minoru’s eyes to the corner of his room.

A young man was standing impatiently, arms crossed and an annoyed expression on his handsome face.

The setting sun streamed in from the open window, turning his auburn hair into a display of soft reds and browns. Minoru suddenly felt as if he were in the presence of royalty, or at least someone who considered himself to be.

“C’mon, Light. You were more fun alive.”

“Then maybe you should have kept me that way.”

Minoru calmed down enough to join the conversation, but wasn’t sure what to add. When talking to two possible death gods, what was protocol?

“So, kid. My notebook, where is it?” Ryuk asked, fixing Minoru with a cold yellow stare.

Minoru quickly removed the Death Note from his pants, receiving a raised eyebrow from Light.

But any oddity he might have found vanished when Light greedily took the note from Minoru, eyes flashing with excitement and fingers flipping through with practiced ease.

“I can’t believe it’s all still here,” Light mused. “Lucky for you.” He fixed Minoru with an unsettling look.

Minoru glanced at the door, wondering if his new mom could protect him from the weirdos in his bedroom. But before he could bolt Light snapped the book closed with a flourish.

“I guess the question is where to start,” he said, setting the Death Note on Minoru’s desk. “And for that, a little recon is in order.”

With a smile Light gestured to the bed, where Minoru sat obediently.

“How are you here?” He asked in a no-bullshit tone. “This isn’t your life.”

“How could you know that?” Minoru gaped, impressed beside himself. How could this ghost know? Ryuk had never been that smart!

“Answer.”

“I’m from the future,” Minoru started, watching Light’s surprisingly unimpressed face. “I died, and I woke up here.”

There’s a pregnant pause before Light responds.

“Yes, by all means don’t elaborate. That’ll help tremendously.”

Minoru bites his tongue and rolls his eyes, eliciting a laugh from Ryuk, who had joined him on the bed. Minoru could already feel an alliance against the brunette dictator in formation.

“I died because I sold the Death Note. Apparently that’s against the rules.”

Light’s eyebrows scrunched together so fast Minoru feared they’d combine.

“Why on Earth would you do that?” Came the man’s short response.

“Well it’s not like I was using it.”

Minoru was maybe pushing it at this point, but he couldn’t stop. Messing with this clearly-controlling shinigami was already becoming a new pastime.

“How could you waste the power given to you?” Light fumed. “How big a fool could you be?”

“A big one, apparently,” was Minoru’s unbothered response, accompanied by a wry smile. “Why do you care what I do with it? It doesn’t affect you or anyone else.”

“It could,” Light argued, and Ryuk nodded violently. “You could change the world.”

“What, like Kira tried and failed to do?”

That was a hit. Did Light know Kira? Had he been his shinigami?

“I didn’t  _fail_. I did in the end, but before that everything was going according to plan. Crime was reduced significantly.” Lights voice was measured and deadly calm.

“You’re  _Kira_?” Minoru echoed in awe. He had studied Kira’s doings in school, but he couldn’t recall specifics about his true identity.

The identity that was apparently standing before him with crossed arms and a murderous look.

“Are you going to kill me?”

Minoru thought it was a perfectly valid question, but Light began to laugh.

“No, but he will eventually,” Light said, jabbing a finger towards Ryuk.

“Even if I... relinquish the Death Note?” 

Minoru stifled a giggle as Light’s eye twitched. 

“I don’t know about that one,” Ryuk piped up. Light silenced him with a look.

Minoru sighed and flopped down on the bed. It was stiff but comfortable. Lived in.

“Listen. I’m sorry, but I’m not a killer. I’m not crazy enough to think there’s any way what you did would actually work long-term, and I’d really love to not rot in jail.”

Light was silent, surely considering his options. Without sparing the man a second glance, Minoru headed downstairs to meet his new sister. 


	3. Ryuk really wants a wii

Minoru found his sister in the dining room, sitting at the table doing homework. He took the seat across from her tentatively, pulling her out of her book.

“Oh, Light! I was just about to come ask you for help!” Sayu said excitedly, eyes sparkling. 

This energetic girl was a far cry from anyone in Minoru’s real family, but he could tell he’d have no problems acting like her brother.

But... Light? There’s no way that was a coincidence, meeting a shinigami who knew this wasn’t his life and it somehow sharing the name that wasn’t his. Minoru suddenly put the pieces together.

“I can try, but I’m pretty sure I can’t help you with math,” Minoru responded coolly, eyeing the papers and pulling the textbook closer.

“Yeah... I guess I really just wanted a distraction,” Sayu grins, and their mom shoots her a disapproving look from where she stands cooking in the kitchen.

“I don’t know which of you is the worse influence on the other!” She tutted, stirring the pot, but there’s a hint of a smile on her face.

The evening passes in a way Minoru isn’t used to, with laughter and calming talk of interests and the day’s events.

“It’s too bad Dad’s working still,” Sayu sighed as Minoru cleared their dishes from the table. 

“You know he’d be here if he could,” their mother said. 

Minoru was confused but remained silent, sobered at the reminder that no matter how much warmth he felt from the evening, thisfamily wasn’t his.

  
———

He bid the two goodnight before retiring to his room, where he was promptly greeted by the sight of Ryuk and Light on the computer researching game consoles.

“I can’t get you a Wii, they don’t exist yet,” Light was explaining, an annoyed lilt to his tone.

“But I remember the games! You expect me to go back to Mario Kart GameBoy?”

Ryuk’s body contorted into a displeased pretzel.

“There’s nothing I can do to provide you entertainment. I’m sorry,” Light finished, switching the computer off.

“You could write some names.” The shinigami sounded hopeful.

“Not this time.”

Light cast a fervent look towards Minoru standing frozen in the doorway, taking in the strange exchange.

“This is not what I thought was going on up here,” Minoru commented plainly, opening dresser drawers to find his pajamas.

Light raised a perfect eyebrow. “Did you expect us to stand in silence waiting for your return?”

“I mean... you are  _ my _ shinigami,” Minoru emphasized, raising his own eyebrow in return and feeling childish.

“He’s your shinigami,” Light corrected with a thumb jab towards the moping monster. “I’m still figuring out why I’m here. But I don’t owe you anything.”

Minoru gaped. This was news to him.

“What, so you’re just a normal ghost or something? Does everyone become ghosts when they die? Or just Death Note users?”

Light raised a finger, stopping the flow of questions. “I don’t know, and I hate that. Stop making me say it.”

Minoru wisely shut his mouth, but internally smiled at the older teen’s clear purplexion. He got the impression Light could stand to not know something for once. 

“Okay. Well I guess we’ll just have to brainstorm or something tomorrow. Maybe it’ll come back to us if we sleep on it,” Minoru paused in his search. “Do ghosts sleep?”

Minoru laughed as Light rolled his eyes dramatically, the repeated  “I don’t know” silent on his tongue. 

———

“I’m just sayin’, we could make a Wii! It can’t be hard.” 

Ryuk was gesturing emphatically towards Light, who paid him no attention whatsoever.

“It can and it is. Wait the two years for it to come out and shut up.”

Ryuk gave a pouting “harumpph” as Minoru entered the room, drying off his curly hair with a towel.

“Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the ghost bed,” he commented, smirking at Light’s displeased look.

Light ignored the teasing, already almost used to the teen masquerading as himself. 

As a matter of fact, Light had learned the night before that ghosts (or whatever he was) do sleep, but it’s not the same as human sleep.

He’d wandered around the house aimlessly for a couple hours, waiting for his body to tire. But the pull of gravity on his eyelids never came, so Light had taken a seat on the familiar couch and slides his eyes.

He’d slid into the fog within minutes, fully aware he was asleep but not feeling concerned with it in the slightest. It was strange, not doing anything and being content with that, and yet remaining aware of his surroundings enough to know when it was time to “awake.”

Light found himself less unsettled than he thought he should be. But then again, his best friend was a death god and a cocky child was living his life. So things had been weirder.

Light chose not to dignify Minoru with a response to the bed question, instead rising to follow him out the door. 

“Are you... following me to school?”

Light raised an eyebrow. “Is that a problem?”

Minoru had the gall to actually think about it for a second, but eventually shrugged.

“Suit yourself.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think! It really does keep me writing more.


End file.
